


If You Find Yourself Here

by lululawrence



Series: Meet Cute Ficlets [2]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M, i really don't have much to say, more absolute fluff, wrong apartment ficlet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-17
Updated: 2015-04-17
Packaged: 2018-03-23 10:35:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3764953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lululawrence/pseuds/lululawrence
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry accidentally wanders into Louis' apartment.</p><p>They've never met.</p><p>Oops.</p>
            </blockquote>





	If You Find Yourself Here

**Author's Note:**

> Click [here](http://wekissedaccidentally.tumblr.com/awcollab) to get to the collaboration page!
> 
> This is part of a tumblr run fic exchange and this ficlet is to fulfill the prompt of "Hey cutie, you've got the wrong apartment". I hope you enjoy the really, super, crazy amounts of fluff!
> 
> Massive thanks to [Laura](http://ostricacida.tumblr.com), [Brandi](http://littlescumbags.tumblr.com), and [Jamie](http://breathing--for-this-moment.tumblr.com) for betaing for me! With that in mind, all remaining errors are my own.
> 
> This is obviously a work of fiction, it is not real, the portrayals of the boys and others related to them are not going to be true since I've never met them and I'm just doing this for fun so please don't post the work on another site, blah blah blah. 
> 
> The title comes from Brightest by Copeland.

Louis was admittedly flustered. He was so sure he could try something a bit more fancy than his usual ramen noodles or grilled cheese sandwich because when he had tried his Hamburger Helper meal a few days ago, all had gone surprisingly well. He had wanted to have some fajitas, but the recipe on the back of the spice packet he found at Walmart didn’t have everything his mom used to make with hers, so he went ahead and got some tomatoes, queso fresco, and his favorite spinach tortillas in addition to the bell peppers, onions, and chicken suggested. Impressively enough, that was all fine. As far as he could tell, the fajitas had turned out perfectly.

His issue was the rice.

Louis had called his mom and asked for her super yummy lemon rice recipe that he liked to have in his fajitas and when looking at it, it had seemed rather simple. Just cook up the rice in chicken broth instead of normal water, and when it was done add butter, lemon juice, parsley, salt, and pepper. He had all of those and it sounded pretty straight forward. Louis had decided to go for it and planned accordingly.

His first hint things were not going to go according to plan was he had added the rice before the broth had been brought to a boil. Apparently that’s a big no no. He was going to try to pull the rice out, but he only had one more cup of broth and he needed two for the amount of rice his mom told him to make, and he was NOT going to stray from the recipe. Louis does alright and is fairly confident as long as he follows directions, but as soon as math became involved he knew he would mess something up. So he tempted fate and tried to boil the water with the rice in it. 

That had seemed fine, so once it had gotten to that point he covered it and turned on the timer for 20 minutes like the instructions on the bag of rice calls for.

It has now been 15 minutes and there was smoke coming from the pan, but Louis just didn’t know if he should turn it off, turn it down, stir it, add more broth, or what! His mom wasn’t answering her phone and he was flapping around the kitchen trying to determine what might be the best course of action when his front door opened. He sighed in relief over the fact that Liam, his wonderful and responsible roommate, was home from work earlier than expected. Louis knew he could expect a lecture about multitasking in the kitchen and teasing over ruining the meal, but he needed Liam’s help more than his pride.

He was turning off the stove and chancing a look in the pot when he heard what sounded like Liam talking on the phone in the hall. 

“Li! I need you in here now! Get off the phone before the stove erupts in flames!” Louis bellowed as he tried to wave the smoke from the pot away so he could actually see what the contents looked like. 

Luckily the smoke detector was still disconnected in the apartment from when Louis had thought he set the timer for 15 minutes on the cookies last week before falling asleep only to find out far too late it was actually 15 hours. It wasn't his fault the timer on their apartment oven was different from the one at home!

“Shit! Turn off the burner!” 

Louis froze as soon as he heard the voice and was soon pushed out of the way as a male who was decidedly not Liam moved to take charge. The broad shouldered stranger had his brown hair pulled back in a bun and was wearing black and white striped pants that had to be made for women because Louis had never seen pants quite that tight made for a man before. Not that it mattered. Whoever this guy was that was trying to save his dinner had the most incredible ass to fill out those pants, and his legs looked perfect too.

His tall, lean body was working fast and had tossed the pot into the sink before filling it with water. He went back to the stove to check on the other pans of food and apparently found them in order because he turned back to the sink, flipped off the water, and turned to Louis.

“Uh...Oops?”

That’s all the guy was going to say? Then again, did Louis really care? Look at him! He had these beautiful green eyes and the most incredible bashful smile - with dimples to boot! - Louis had ever seen. Realizing it was his turn to speak, Louis choked out the only thing that came to mind.

“Oh, uh, hi.”

Brilliant, Louis. That’s exactly the way to go about proving you aren’t an absolute idiot.

The man giggled, giggled!, and began to flush as he asked, “I don’t suppose you are Niall and Zayn’s roommate they just never mentioned they had?”

“Noooo,” Louis shook his head before nervously fixing his fringe. God, he probably looked a mess on the one night a beautiful man happened to stumble into his apartment. Of course it couldn’t be on a night when he had come home from a meeting with an investor and was in his suit pants that made his own backside look incredible. He had to have this guy meet him in his nasty sweats from soccer practice with his hair still ratty because he had been too hungry to worry about a shower before making dinner. Ugh.

Back to the matter at hand, the names Niall and Zayn did sound familiar, he just didn’t know why. He decided to follow that avenue of questioning. 

“Niall and Zayn, do they also live in this building?”

“Yeah, I thought this was theirs, but I must have gotten the numbers wrong. I was so sure I had the 3rd floor, but I was talking to my sister on the phone while walking so I could have miscounted the number of flights I had gone up. Is this apartment 3-B?”

Louis laughed. “Close, but not quite. This is apartment 4-B. You overlooked a floor, I guess.”

“Yikes, go me. Okay then.” 

Dimples, or so Louis chose to call him in his mind until he knew his name, twirled self consciously as he rubbed the back of his neck like he wasn’t sure what to do now. He was biting his lip when he looked at Louis again. Louis couldn’t just let this guy go walking out of his apartment, he had to find a way to keep him there at least a little longer.

“You wouldn’t happen to know what I could do to fix my rice situation, would you?” Louis put on his best pleading smile he could muster and raised his eyebrows in question. “Please?”

Dimples chuckled before taking another look into the pot that was still steaming in the sink. “I think your rice is done for, man. The rest of your meal looks great, though. Are these fajitas?”

Louis sighed. “Yeah. I was trying to make them like my mom’s, but I’m still figuring out the whole cooking on my own thing and apparently rice is still beyond my abilities.”

“That’s okay. They should still taste fine even without,” Dimples appeased. 

Louis smiled in response to his kindness and kept his own blue eyes attached to Dimples' green. 

“Would you like to have some? I made more than enough, Liam won’t be home for a few hours, and it could be my thank you for helping save our kitchen from sudden doom,” he suggested. “That is, only if you aren’t in a hurry to get to Niall and Zayn.”

“I am a bit hungry,” Dimples conceded. “I could just let them know I’ll be a bit later than expected if you really don’t mind my joining you.”

“Of course not, otherwise I wouldn’t have offered. I would like to know your name, though.”

The other man’s eyes grew what seemed to be two sizes when he realized they still hadn’t been introduced. “I’m so sorry! I just come walking into your place like I own it and you don’t even have a clue what my name is! I’m Harry.”

Louis reached out to place his hand inside of Harry’s much larger one and enjoyed the feeling of his warm skin almost totally enveloping his. “And I’m Louis. Very nice to officially meet you.”

They just stood there, hands clasped between them, for what felt like ages before Louis finally realized he didn’t want the fajitas to get cold so he should maybe get going on setting the table if he wanted to enjoy the meal as well as the company.

"Okay, well let me set the table and we can get eating and hopefully you won't die since this was my first time making these fajitas," Louis joked. He was pleased to hear Harry chuckle and he couldn't help shaking his hips a little as he turned to get the plates from the cabinet. "Would you mind putting the chicken and veggie yummies on the table while I pull out the rest of the fixings?"

"Of course!" 

Harry headed over to where the food was sitting and Louis indicated where the pot holders were as he pulled out and set the silverware and glasses before heading to the fridge for the cheese and grabbed the tortillas from the warmer he had them sitting in. As he walked back to the table and unloaded, he motioned for Harry to sit down. 

"What would you like to drink? We have milk, water, Dr. Pepper, or some beer. Might even have some white wine or tequila if you are feeling particularly racy tonight," Louis teased over his shoulder as he walked back to the fridge. 

"Would you judge me if I went for the wine?"

"Definitely," Louis laughed. "It is a weeknight, but I'll be joining you so it's okay."

After pouring their wine into his totally classy mason jars, Louis finally settled himself at the table so they could get to eating. They were both quiet as they assembled their fajitas, but even having just met, the silence was filled with ease. It was amazing how the air was charged more with sexual tension as opposed to the discomfort that usually came with getting to know someone. 

"You're sure you have issues cooking? Because these fajitas rival my own, and I'm very proud of my fajita skills," Harry complimented, a look of surprise on his face. 

"Why does this surprise you that much? I only met you like 20 minutes ago!" Louis cried. His pride was seriously being wounded here!

"Oh come on," Harry laughed as he took a sip of wine. "You burned rice."

Louis pouted before taking a big bite of his food. "I'll have you know I am a master at the few dishes I have attempted so far," he defended. "I'm even willing to prove it to you if these fajitas aren't enough to sway you."

"I might have to take you up on that," Harry's deep voice rumbled. 

Louis looked up to make sure Harry wasn't messing with him and found his eyes sparkling. Louis softly kicked out to Harry and teased, "I might even shower and do my hair for you next time."

Harry trapped Louis' foot between his own before he smirked and said, "Don't tease me like that or I might think you're trying to woo me."

Louis bit his lip and eyed his plate rather than looking Harry in the eyes. "And what if I am? Trying to woo you, I mean."

"Then I suggest you man up and ask me for my number already. I might have accidentally walked into your apartment, but I'm not going to call every Louis I can find listed for an older apartment in Chicago trying to reach you again."

Pushing away his now empty plate, Louis pulled his foot back and stood from the table. He grabbed his phone from where he'd left it on the counter and unlocked it before holding it out for Harry. 

"I would be ever so grateful if you wouldn't mind giving me your number, so about five minutes after you leave I can call you and ask you out on a real date like a true gentleman."

Harry revealed his dimples to Louis again, accepted the phone, and said, "I love long walks by the pier, dancing, and the Cubs. If I find out you're a Sox man, I'm going to be sorely disappointed."

"Can't have that. I'll have make sure to impress with more than just my cooking and choice in baseball teams, though."

"I can't wait."

**Author's Note:**

> Come chat with me on tumblr and let me know what you think! I'm [lululawrence](http://lululawrence.tumblr.com).
> 
> The link to the tumblr post for the ficlet is [here](http://lululawrence.tumblr.com/post/116659802968/if-you-find-yourself-here-2149-words-b)


End file.
